NEWS 2025
New FAB Adult Beginning Pointe Class!
Thursday evenings from 7:30 – 8:30pm at the Coulsdon Community Centre.
We are excited to have expanded our class offerings to enable more adults to enjoy the thrill of dancing “en pointe”! This class is open to beginners as well as more experienced adults already dancing in pointe shoes. Beginners will participate in flat shoes and work towards building their strength and skill to eventually dance pointework too.
FAB’s Grade 5 Exam a Big Success
We are delighted that our recent group of Grade 5 students performed very well in their Royal Academy of Dance exam session over the winter. Everyone not only passed, but attained Distinctions or Merits!
FAB’s “Most Improved Dancer of the Year” award of 2024
Our “Most Improved Dancer of the Year” award recipient of 2024 is one of our Intermediate Foundation students. We were very impressed with the dedication, hard work, and perseverance she exhibited this past year. Her devotion to her dancing has enabled her to progress immensely. We look forward to watching her continue to develop her ballet skills in the future.
NEWS from years past…
2024 news
FAB Dancers Perform in EYB’s Cinderella in Hollywood Production
We are so proud of our Intermediate Foundation and Grade 4 students who performed in the English Youth Ballet’s production of Cinderella in Hollywood the weekend of 15-16 November, 2024.
Congratulations to them for their accomplishment and on their dedication and hard work which has brought them so far already!
Our First Alumni Student
FAB is thrilled to bid a fond farewell to Jana, our first alumni student, who is thriving at Bird College! We are so proud of her accomplishment in acceptance into their 2024-25 class. Here’s wishing her all the best of luck and success for her future and we look forward to seeing her onstage in future (West End, perhaps?) productions!
FAB Performs in the Stars of Tomorrow Production at the New Wimbledon Theatre
Well done to our company who did a fabulous performance on the 28th of May! They represented FAB admirably in The Stars of Tomorrow production at the New Wimbledon Theatre and had a thrilling time.
It was a great experience for them getting to dance with a broad host of performers from an array of performing arts schools in the area. The theatre and stage are lovely and the audience was wonderfully enthusiastic and supportive of everyone’s performances.
2023 news
Our 2023 Spring Performance
Firebird Academy of Ballet had a wonderful Showcase performance of The Lady Snow of Wight on the 26th of March at Woodcote High School. The performance, based on the classic fairy tale of Snow White, showcased the talents of almost our entire school. We had a range of students of all ages, 3 years old through to adults, performing together a story ballet choreographed by our director, Miss Cassie, with contributions from Miss Gina as well. For many, this was their first experience with telling a story through mime and acting in addition to dancing ballet. Well done to everyone for their wonderful re-telling of the classic tale.
Performing is vitally important to every dancer, no matter the skill level, no matter how novice or how young. It’s the reward for all the hard class work, and sharing their love for ballet performing in front of family and friends is the greatest thrill.
We’ll be back onstage soon!
FAB Grade 4 Students Perform with The English Youth Ballet
A big round of applause to our Grade 4 dancers Christina, Elise, and Emily for their lovely performances in Coppélia with the English Youth Ballet on Sunday 26th of February, 2023, at the Beck Theatre in Hayes. It was a delightful performance giving our dancers an opportunity to show off their talent while experiencing all that entails in putting on a full-length ballet production.
2022 news
FAB’s Winter RAD Exams a Huge Success
We were delighted for our students who participated in the Winter Royal Academy of Dance exam session on the 17th of November, 2022. Everyone passed with either a High Distinction, Distinction, or High Merit!
Introducing Miss Gina
This past autumn we were thrilled to introduce a new member to our artistic team, Yevhenia Permynova, or Miss Gina as we all call her. Gina has taken over the classes at the Coulsdon Community Centre on Tuesdays. She has been a wonderful addition to our family, and we are pleased to be able to offer her expertise to our students.
FAB Expands to Wednesday Classes!
Firebird Academy of Ballet is pleased to announce our school expansion to offering classes on Wednesdays. We have 3 new classes on our schedule:
- Pre-Primary now offered twice a week.
- An exam coaching class for students to have more individual instruction leading up to their exam.
- A third RAD Grade 3 class with a Variations and Choreography class afterwards to develop our student’s performing experience.
FAB to Perform at 2022 Summer Fair
This Summer some of our students will get the opportunity to perform solos, duets and trios outside at the Westbourne Primary School’s Summer Fair. We hope to see as many friends and family there to support them as possible.
Congratulations Grade 2 Exam Candidates
Well done to our latest group of Grade 2 candidates to enter exams with the Royal Academy of Dance. They all passed with Distinctions or Merits! We applaud their accomplishment and look forward to participating in their continued development as dancers.
2021 news
End of Winter Term Holiday Performance
Our 2021 Holiday Showcase performance, which took place on Sunday, December 12 at Woodcote High School, was a wonderful success! With the combined efforts of the whole school and the support of wonderful volunteers, who provided such supportive and energetic help, our students danced specially choreographed pieces to festive music and wore lovely new costumes with holiday themes. Our filled audience, full of proud family and friends, cheered them all on with plenty of enthusiastic applause. The experience will forever be a treasured memory.
Shows such as these are essential for giving our students the opportunity to experience performing in front of an audience. This is always a great confidence booster, an absolute thrilling experience they will remember forever, and an important part of their development.
We all eagerly anticipate our next showcase!
Congratulations
We are so proud of our students Abigail, Elise and Abi who have successfully auditioned and will soon be cast in the English Youth Ballet’s 2021 Nutcracker Season! We look forward to watching them this November 19th & 20th at the Hawth Theatre in Crawley.
Miss Cassie gains ISTD Teaching Member qualification
Our Principal, Cassandra Seeger, has now become a certified ISTD, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, teaching member and can enter students in for ISTD ballet exams. While our school remains Royal Academy of Ballet based and continues to offer exams with the RAD, Miss Cassie is incorporating elements of the ISTD syllabus into the technique classes to enrich our students’ ballet education.
New Adult Intermediate Ballet Class
Starting the week commencing 17th May, 2021 added a new adult ballet class to our schedule on Tuesday evenings from 7:30-8:30pm at the Coulsdon Community Centre. This class is for dancers who have had 4 years or more of experience in dancing ballet.
Our Adult Beginning Ballet class has resumed on Friday evenings from 8-9pm.
2020 news
FAB 1st Summer Ballet Intensive Camp a Super Success!
The students had a wonderful time during our 3-day August Ballet Intensive Camp. It’s great to be back in the studio! It was immensely full of fun, laughter, and creativity, and we look forward to doing it again next year.
They were superbly engaged learning new dance steps in both classical ballet as well as Russian and Hungarian peasant style character dance. Our participating students also learned new choreography from the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus as well as having a great time creating their own dance combinations. They enjoyed challenging games giving them opportunities to build their own choreography as well as improvise “in the moment”. In the rest periods they learned the story of one of the great ballets, engaged in craft activities and watched a recording of the ballet performed by a leading ballet company. Everyone had an all-around fabulous return to classes together in-person!
FAB’s 1st Birthday!
The start of this coming Summer term marks Firebird Academy of Ballet’s first birthday. We have had a great start with performances in October and December of 2019, our first set of RAD exams this Spring, and additional classes added into the schedule each term! Plans to celebrate this milestone are underway and news will be forthcoming as they solidify.
Our First Exam Candidates —
Well done to our first group of Grade 1 and 2 dancers who took their Royal Academy of Dance examination on Sunday the 1st of March at the RAD headquarters in London.
School Expansion with Tuesday Classes!
Firebird Academy of Ballet is delighted to announce several new class additions to our Summer Term schedule:
- Tuesday RAD Grade 2 from 17:15-18:15
- Tuesday RAD Grade 3 from 18:15-19:15
- Friday Ballet Technique for RAD Grades 2 & 3 from 19:00-20:00
We are very excited to advance some of our students to include this new Grade 3 level to our school.
